| Bank assigns millions to man with same name |
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| Wednesday, 20 February 2008 | |
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Police in Brooklyn have arrested a man who took $2 million out of a bank account held by a finance director with the same name.
Benjamin Lovell, 48, used money from a $5.8 million account to invest in the futures market, but failed to recoup his investments. The account was held at Commerce Bank by Woodlawn Trustees Inc., a property management firm whose finance director is also called Benjamin Lovell. A bank error resulted in the account being assigned to the wrong man’s social security number, according to the authorities. When the $600 a week utility salesman visited the bank in December to deposit cash, bank employees insisted that the multi-million dollar account was his and Lovell took out $10,000 “to test the waters”, the New York Daily News reports. By the time Woodlawn reported the money missing four weeks later, Lovell had blown $2.1 million on colonic irrigation, dental surgery, jewellery for his mistress and on the stock market. It is believed Lovell invested $500,000 in order to pay back the money in the event the bank’s mistake came to light. The authorities were able to recover only a quarter of the money withdrawn by Lovell after the Monopoly-style mistake by the bank in his favour. Related links Related articles |
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